What is the price of an online survey?

When someone is new to taking online surveys, they often ask this question. Are online surveys worth my time and how much do they truly pay? After all, who wants to put time and effort into something that doesn’t pay off? How much can you actually expect to make?

Most likely, you’ve come across a website or received an email outlining the possible income streams from participating in paid internet surveys. These “survey calculators” indicate that you may make $3000, $5000, or even $8000 a month by taking surveys, based on astronomical statistics like completing 10 surveys a day that are worth $25 or more each.

Alternatively, you may have seen images of payment cheques like this one, which are for hundreds of dollars, from a survey company. Since the monetary values on these checks don’t appear to have been altered, conducting surveys must be a viable way to earn enormous quantities of money, right?

In order to persuade their visitors to either purchase an expensive list of alleged paid survey opportunities for $25–$60 or to sign up with very specific paid survey sites that, in reality, pay the website owner for each person they recruit, many websites make exaggerated claims about their earning potential. In actuality, these website proprietors profit from the survey takers themselves by recruiting them to survey sites; they are not generating money from the surveys themselves.

And encouraging people to your website to register with a dozen other survey companies? First of all, many of the proposed survey sites are questionable in terms of their legality, and the suggested survey sites are rarely well reviewed. Many of these dishonest websites often “recommend” websites that are simply spammy or seem to be surveys but actually sell user information. As a result, they are paid when someone joins up through a referral link on their website, but their victims and recruits are left with the hassle of constant phone calls from marketers and an overflowing inbox of spam.

It is entirely possible to make money with online surveys, despite the fact that, like many things on the internet, the field is full of shady characters. Actually, millions of people do it all around the world. You might anticipate making a few bucks an hour completing surveys for reputable market research firms. You can receive payment to your PayPal account in addition to receiving payment by check, earning Amazon gift cards, and making a little additional cash.

If you accept an invitation to take part in focus groups, taste testing, or product testing, you can make even more money (up to $75 per hour). However, keep in mind that these are unique chances with bigger payouts than usual, so think carefully before accepting the offer.

The amount of money you may make on a paid survey site varies greatly and is largely dependent on the survey sites you participate in, the chances they offer, and your personal profile. If you work in a profession like medicine or business, for example, you should expect to make far more money than the average person. This is especially true if you are a part of survey panels designed just for people in these fields, as most people will not be eligible for paid surveys intended for doctors and business owners.

Don’t worry if you consider yourself to be an average person—an everyday Joe or Jane! There are lots of ways for you to earn Amazon gift cards, PayPal cash, etc. There are respectable market research companies where you can find a researcher similar to them, regardless of your age, income, gender, or level of education.

Keep an eye out for warning signs, such as the promise of astronomical quantities of money, having to pay for access to a list of surveys, or feeling under pressure to join up for numerous survey sites or “special offers.” You can be certain that the organization you’re dealing with is not a reputable survey provider if you see these.

No respectable market research companies advise against doing research as a career. As a matter of fact, they often only offer a limited variety of research options on their website (about $50 to $5.00 per survey). Occasionally, they choose not to mention anything at all since every researcher’s experience at the survey site is unique.